In the graphical industry the product goes through a number of processing steps such as designing, proofing, printing, and finishing before the final product is obtained. During the printing process the product moves from a digital form to a tangible form by creating an image according to a digital file upon a suitable media such as paper, or film. After printing the product may move through several finishing steps, such as folding, cutting, trimming, stapling, binding, and packaging. Some of these processing steps are performed inline requiring no intermediate handling of the media by an operator. However, more often the finishers are stand-alone apparatuses. This requires the operator to take the media out of one apparatus, move the media to a further apparatus and load the media in this further apparatus. Instructions on what processing steps are required and specific details on these processing steps are mostly carried on an order form by the operator when moving the media through the different processing steps.
However, this still leaves room for errors. If the operator is not familiar enough with specific pieces of equipment or when the job is not the regular job, but more or less an out-of-the-ordinary kind of job, the operator might operate the equipment incorrectly (or select the wrong kind of equipment altogether) and waste material and time. For example, binding a stack of sheets on the wrong edge would most probably not result in a final product that is acceptable to the customer.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the reliability of the processing.